Weekend at Freestyle Divers

[ScubaWithTurk]

We went diving January 4-6th in Fujairah, UAE at Freestyle Divers. Part of the dive weekend was for my RAID Advanced 35 course with @RainPilot and the rest were fun dives while also working on my skills.

Dive Sites: Dibba Rock, Inchape 1 and Artificial Reef

These videos I am presenting will show my progression as not only a diver but also a videographer and post-production editor with this being my second dive video.

Filmed using GoPro Hero 4 Black (handheld) and no light other than on than Inchape 1 wreck and that was a regular dive torch hence the bright spot.

Edited Using GoPro Studio

Thanks to Freestyle Divers, Desert Reef UAE and all the new dive buddies we got to meet and dive with over the weekend.

 

[kaerius]

But why is it so shaky? Just holding the gopro casing in one hand? Flutter kicking or "standard" up-down hip kicks?

Bigger, heavier casing/rig gives you more stability, as does frog kicking for propulsion. Even one of those sort of selfie-stick mounts for the gopro gives you a big improvement in stability.

Here's one from another diver(Michael Gettys, thanks if you're reading this) on the boat when I was diving in the similans in december. Filmed with Gopro 5, casing and stick mount.

One of mine with a TG5 and just the casing. Held one-handed. Despite that you can see the improvement from the heavier camera/casing(and the TG5 is compact).

 

[ScubaWithTurk]

But why is it so shaky? Just holding the gopro casing in one hand? Flutter kicking or "standard" up-down hip kicks?

Bigger, heavier casing/rig gives you more stability, as does frog kicking for propulsion. Even one of those sort of selfie-stick mounts for the gopro gives you a big improvement in stability.

As I stated, it is handheld only. I am looking at trays and lights now but want a video progression of my video skills as well as my dive skills which is why I am making videos from handheld with no lights, to handheld with one light and progressing on to a better rig.

I was frog kicking as I don't do other kicks except for modified flutter at times.

I only just now have 20 logged dives of which many are training dives so I am working on hovering in place which adds to the shakiness of the video as well as only being a GoPro user for about the last 10 dives.

I do have a selfie-stick but I won't use it in the water. I don't like holding it at all times and wearing the BP/W I can juts clip off the GoPro with minimal dangle.

 

[kaerius]

I'd definitely recommend some sort of rig/mount to increase stability. Ideally a tray mount, this also gives you mounting points for video lights should you go down that route, but just the tray itself will help stability a ton.

Something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Bigblue-Hous...003770&sr=8-2&keywords=gopro+scuba+mount+tray

Slightly more dangly while clipped onto your BP/W, but your video quality will improve.